The Crown Crime Companion

by Otto Penzler (Editor), Mickey Friedman (Editor), H.R.F. Keating (Essay)

The Crown Crime Companion

The Top 100 Mystery Novels Of All Time

Selected by the

Mystery Writers Of America

Annotated by 0tto Penzler and Compiled by Mickey Friedman

For The Crown Crime Companion, the Mystery Writers of America have compiled a list of the best 100 mystery novels of all time, as well as a list of favorites in ten categories.

Fully annotated and reviewed by Otto Penzler, this list of the top 100 mysteries will be a valuable resource to fans, introducing them to new novels and reminding them about books by favorite writers they may have missed.

Each of the ten category lists is introduced by a master of that category:

Classics:

Suspense:

Hardboiled/Private Eye:

Police Procedural:

Espionage/Thriller:

Criminal:

Cozy/Traditional:

Historical:

Humorous:

Legal/Courtroom:

H.R.F. Keating

Mary Higgins Clark

Sue Grafton

Joseph Wambaugh

John Gardner

Richard Condon

Margaret Maron

Peter Lovesey

Gregory Mcdonald

Scott Turow

Genres: Nonfiction, Mystery

192 pages, Paperback

First published May 2, 1995

About the author

Otto Penzler is an editor of mystery fiction in the United States, and proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City, where he lives.

Otto Penzler founded The Mysteriour Press in 1975 and was the publisher of The Armchair Detective, the Edgar-winning quarterly journal devoted to the study of mystery and suspense fiction, for seventeen years.

Penzler has won two Edgar Awards, for The Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection in 1977, and The Lineup in 2010. The Mystery Writers of America awarded him the prestigious Ellery Queen Award in 1994, and the Raven--the group's highest non-writing award--in 2003.

Reviews

[Ron Kerrigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I rated this low because it was published in 1995, so those surveyed filled out their list before books by authors that would no doubt be included in a new list were published (or written) -- such as Charles Todd, Louise Penny, et al. Also, there is no index showing where books are listed or written about.

As it stands, it's an interesting compendium and includes some books that are on my favorite list and some I might actually seek out (although there are too many Hardboiled entries to interest me.)

The Top 100 books are listed and a short entry about each one is included (with the authors' thoughts, such as disagreeing with some top vote-getters due to their not being actual novels or not quite matching the category.)

it is explained how the list was compiled and the top ten in each of the categories (Classics, Suspense, Police Procedural, Cozy, Humorous, etc) are listed. It also lists the Edgar Winners and Nominees -- up until 1994, that is.

Of course I can't write a review without listing my own favorites:

1 The Uninvited - Dorothy Macardle
2 Rim of the Pit – Hake Talbot
3 The Three Coffins – John Dickson Carr **
4 The Daughter of Time – Josephine Tey **
5 The Hound of the Baskervilles – Arthur Conan Doyle **
6 And Then There Were None – Agatha Christie **
7 The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield
8 Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie **
9 Green For Danger – Christianna Brand
10 Repeat Performance – William O’Farrell
11 Cue for Murder – Helen McCloy
12 Death from a Top Hat – Clayton Rawson
13 Time and Again – Jack Finney **
14 The Problem of the Green Capsule – John Dickson Carr
15 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd – Agatha Christie **
16 Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruis Zafon
17 The Water Room – Christopher Fowler
18 The House on the Strand – Daphne DuMaurier
19 Magpie Murders – Anthony Horowitz
20 A Fatal Grace – Louise Penny

** - included in this book's Top 100 list

Honorable mention:
Farthing – Jo Walton
Test of Wills – Charles Todd
The Fourth Door – Paul Halter

[Kathryn Provence · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good reference book for all mystery fans. There is always a writer you have never heard of on the list.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a list.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great reference